Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Some historians in Italy are claiming that Christopher Columbus came not from Genoa, but from a small village near Turin. They'll be holding a conference this weekend to present proof that he was a native of Cuccaro Monferrato. The explorer's descendants are invited to attend—not a few of whom will be eager to learn whether they also have a Pope in their family tree.

An Italian historian, Renato Biagioli, has gone further in claiming he was the illegitimate son of a Roman noblewoman and a pope, who sired him as a teenager before he entered the Church. According to Biagioli, Anna Colonna of the famous Roman family had intercourse with the 14-year-old Giovanbattista Cybo, later Pope Innocent VIII, in the Neapolitan castle known as the Maschio Angioino in 1446.

The resulting child was later adopted by Domenico Colombo in Genoa, Biagioli claims. [Link]